est. 2008

“When you hardly have a heart. But you need it just to break. When I haven’t let my guard down. Just give me time to think.”

This is one of my favorite tracks off of “War Paint” from The Dangerous Summer. What is it about songwriters that makes wandering such an enticing subject matter? It’s something we all must feel at one time or another, the want to get away. The Dangerous Summer are masters of capturing this, encapsulating the feeling of sinking so far into your own head that it takes cold, unfeeling realities to snap you out.

Lyrically, I think it’s beautiful. We must not overlook the allusion to their first album title in the chorus, a hidden thread and reminder that what they play is what they feel.

Speaking performance-wise, I think this song goes above and beyond what you’d expect to hear from a band like this. The pace is measured, it rises and falls. The lead-in to the first chorus, and well-timed “yeah” is a reveal, same with the extended line before the second chorus. The lead guitar does beautiful, beautiful things throughout. The drum hit before the last two choruses is one of the more well-executed rock ballad moments that, again, you might expect to hear from a band like this. I could listen to this song over and over again and just get lost in it. I’m pretty sure I just did.

“I’ve seen my words carvedIn the arms of a stranger as they let me knowThey watched their love dieBut picked it up later when they found that ropeSome say you need to bleed to believe in hurtSome say you have to scar to belong to her

I’ll live alone and find my peaceI will slip into a comaFound somewhere north of FloridaBut just south of Tennessee‘Cause the sun I finally reached itGive me reason to move on nowBut there’s something in this heart I lostSomehow

I’ll set it down for youI wouldn’t lie to you, now would II built that road from the beginning with my handsWhen you decided to take itWhat did you take from it?Was it worth the heart involvedThe obstacles, the chemicalsI need to know what you’re trying to see

I’ll live alone and find my peaceI will slip into a comaFound somewhere north of FloridaBut just south of Tennessee‘Cause the sun I finally reached itGive me reason to move on nowBut there’s something in this heart I lostSomehow

Are they slipping throughAll those messages I sentI will cart across to every single city and their statesWhen you hardly have a heartBut you need it just to breakWhen I haven’t let my guard downJust give my time to thinkWell does it start to murmur?It just needs some time to breatheAnd in the light of murderWhat if it carried meJust to find that water

(I found the patterns release in me)Just to find that water(I found the patterns release in me)Can I find that water?(I found the patterns release in me)Can I find that water?(I found the patterns release in me)

I’ll live alone and find my peaceI will slip into a comaFound somewhere north of FloridaBut just south of Tennessee‘Cause the sun I finally reached itGive me reason to move on nowBut there’s something in this heart I lostSomehow”~Everyone LeftThe Dangerous Summer, War Point